Trenton Technology Blog

Big Power with Rackmount Systems in Small Footprints for Airborne Surveillance

There's no doubt about the fact that space is at a premium in any airborne computer application. Another fact is that added weight causes excess fuel consumption that increases an aircraft's operating costs. Computer horsepower is needed to make this all happen within the size, weight and power (SWaP) limitations of a surveillance aircraft. So how do you balance these application realities with more compelling need for fast, accurate and dependable airborne surveillance information?

Trenton was contacted by a major military contractor to provide a solution for airborne surveillance. These rackmount systems would need to meet SWaP requirements but they must also provide the necessary performance, long-term support and ruggedness for such a deployment. Trenton's COTS multi-server rackmount systems proved to be the correct solution. These lightweight aluminum rackmount computers can house up to four dual XEON single board computers (SBC) in a single system. A fabric link through the segmented backplanes provides internal high-speed communications across the platform. The system below features four multi-core XEON single board computers mets the mission data communication and analysis needs while minimizing SWaP.

Trenton's whitepaper on cluster computing solutions used in this airborne surveillance application was published in the Intel Embedded Innovator magazine. Many of the multi-board, SWaP, multi-core processor and virtualization technologies deployed in system solutions are applicable in many other industries.

This contribution is from Jim Renehan, Director of Marketing.